Rugby: Semifinal fitness 'vital'

Canterbury have to be mentally stronger for their NPC rugby semifinal against Taranaki on Saturday night, according to captain Daryl Gibson.

Despite beating Northland 28-22 in the last week of the round-robin and securing the Ranfurly Shield for the season, Gibson was dissatisfied with Canterbury's showing.

"We were very disappointed with the way we performed. We let our standards slip and made a lot of mistakes," Gibson said at Canterbury's one-hour training run yesterday.

He said the problem was a mental one.

"We can train all we like for the semifinal, but it comes down to what's up here," he said, pointing to the top of his head.

"We were only really urgent for a couple of periods against Northland. We were stung after halftime when they scored that early try, and it was just as well we came back and scored two quick tries."

Gibson said he was not surprised to find Canterbury pitted against Taranaki in the semifinals, especially after the team knew they had to gain the maximum five points from Counties Manukau last Sunday.

"They realised they had a huge opportunity and went out and took it. It was an interesting game because of the contrasting styles.

"Counties obviously wanted to get it wide and Taranaki were more content to go through the middle. Taranaki are always strong up front."

Taranaki went over for seven tries in their 48-46 win against Counties - they had scored just 13 in their previous eight matches.

Canterbury are hotly favoured to win. But Gibson, who was named Canterbury's player of the year at the weekend, is not looking beyond Taranaki.

"We've got to get our confidence back and our game going against Taranaki first.

"If we do, then hopefully we can go further, but our focus is fully on Saturday's game."

Meanwhile, Ben Blair will take his place at fullback, despite missing training yesterday. He hurt his thigh against Northland.

The team will be named today. Players who will not be considered are injured All Blacks Leon McDonald (ankle) and Mark Robinson (knee).

- NZPA